Olive Kitteridge

I picked up this book in part because it won a Pulitzer, but I was disappointed. The main character, Olive Kitteridge, is a tense, often-angry woman with no ability to self-censor her thoughts. While main characters need not be perfect, I never really got to like her, though she grows more sympathetic as she grows older. She lacks humor, making it even more puzzling that Strout would choose someone so basically unlikeable as the focus of these stories. Also, while all the stories supposedly have Olive as some sort of focal point, or give her relevance, two only mention her by name, and those stories seem not connected at all to the town of Crosby, Maine, where most of the action takes place. Finally, Olive's slams at former president GW Bush as a "moron" and as someone who looks "retarded" did nothing to further endear her to me, though it probably did some members of the Pulitzer committee. Her bona fides as someone sassy and opinionated were already well-documented; sticking in her political opinions seemed tacked on and irrelevant. What was the point? Three stars for Strout's excellent writing, though.

Wish I could give half stars, because really this is more like 3.5 .

Olive Kitteridge is a beautiful collection of short stories that introduce the reader to the title character from many viewpoints, including her own. I thought it was a very effective way to examine one's place in society. Strout examines relationships -- from budding, young love to longtime commitments, parent/child, neighbors and friends -- in a way that always rings true. The bottom line is everyone is looking for love and acceptance.

Loved this book. Olive is an ornery old coot living in small-town Crosby, Maine, and she's at times funny, frustrating, irritating, infuriating, sympathetic, but you can't wait to find out what happens next, or, in some cases, what happened before. Told as a series of short stories, it also focuses on other people in the town, but Olive is the center of this universe.

Loved this story about a former school teacher in a small town in Maine coming to terms with the relationships that have shaped her life, particularly those with her husband and son. Olive is real, sometimes cruel, often begrudging, except (as we see in glimpses through other people's stories) with her students. Each chapter creates a new character or set of characters that intersect with Olive's life in ways that reveal another facet of her life or person. This is the first book by Strout that I've read, but I love her prose and will definitely be coming back for more.